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WCCO Viewers' Choice For MN's Best Omelet

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (WCCO) -- We just got done with the Super Bowl of brunch: Mother's Day.

But there's no off-season for breakfast foods. So this week, I went in search of the best omelet in Minnesota.

And your votes sent me to the Viking Café – a hall of legends -- in Fergus Falls.

The combined experience of four waitresses there totals more than a century.

Peggy Carlson, from Fergus Falls, has been there for 32 years. Jane Burton, from Tracy, has been there just as long. Nancy Hagberg, from Fergus Falls, has clocked in for 27 years, and Bonnie Nyberg, Fergus Falls, has been serving for 23 years.

In total, that's 114 years of experience.

"We have an excellent team," Burton said. "Excellent team. People come and fill out applications and you want to tell them, ya know, someone might have to die."

Pat Shol owns The Viking, and is acting head coach. He's in charge of maintaining the charm his parents helped develop when they bought the cafe in 1967.

"It's just good food," Shol said. "Food you'd make at home and food you'd want to be served. Nothing fancy. It's just good quality food, reasonable prices and you get plenty of it."

And the omelets are no exception.

"We got some customers that call them the monsters," Carlson said.

The three egg omelet – which comes with mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes and ham -- would be filling enough. But they match it with a mound of scratch-made hashbrowns.

More than the food, the Viking Cafe is an experience.

Between the color scheme, the decor, and the experience of the staff, it almost feels like you've stepped back in time.

"There's always a new restaurant or some new buildings being built, but it's really hard to keep something the way it was years ago," Shol said. "And a lot of people, if they don't have the spoken memories of it, at least they can step back in here and still have the visual memories."

The ham and cheese omelet is probably the most popular at the Viking Cafe, it costs $8.25.

If you want the everything, like the one seen in the video, that's $9.25.

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